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建设 (jiàn shè) — to build, to construct (large-scale projects, institutions, or systems)

Definition

建设 is the broad 'build / construct' verb for large projects, institutions, and abstract systems (society, country, economy). Compare 建 (more general, concrete acts of building) and 建筑 (the noun 'building' or the act of physically constructing).

verb
to buildto construct (large-scale projects, institutions, or systems)

Examples

  • 建设。
    Zhèng fǔ zhèng zài jiàn shè xīn de yī yuàn.
    The government is building a new hospital.
  • 建设。
    Tā men jiàn shè le yí gè xīn xì tǒng.
    They built a new system.
  • 建设。
    Wǒ men yào gòng tóng jiàn shè měi hǎo shè huì.
    We must build a beautiful society together.

Origin

Compound word
构词法gòucífǎ
联合liánhéCoordinate

Two parts of equal weight, alike or opposite in meaning, standing side by side.

建jiànbuild/establish
设shèset up

建 and 设 both mean establish or build, so together they express constructing and developing.

Characters in this word

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

  • 廴廴yǐn
  • 聿聿yù

The shape 建 shows 廴 and 聿, but it comes from an older drawing of a hand planting a pole into a base; the lower part of 聿 is not a brush.

Open 建 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 設; 设 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
言言yán
Sound part声符shēngfú
埶
埶yì設shè
The sound has drifted apartThe sound part was a clue two thousand years ago — it often still helps, but not always.

The traditional form 設 uses 言 (speech) to show the meaning and 埶 to give the sound; this explanation is for 設, not the simplified 设.

Open 设 →
Appears in
HSK 3.0 Level 5HSK 2.0 Level 5Abstract Concepts

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